Aftermath
by KissPookie28
Summary: Brooke goes through a traumatic experience and returns home. BUt can she deal with her new life, and will her friends understand? A kind of OTH horror story.
1. Chapter 1

**This is just a brief intro to a story I thought up, if I get enough interest I will continue it and if I do the next chapters will be longer.**

Leaves crunched under her feet as she staggered down the road. Up ahead, a street light flickered before going out completely leaving her stranded in the darkness. Her staggering became more frantic, her breath coming out in short gasps as she broke into a run. Clutching her arm to her chest she ran to the nearest police station bursting through the doorway. The officer at the front desk took one look at her blood soaked clothing and called the ambulance. As he was placing the phone back in the cradle, he caught sight of the missing persons posters plastered on the wall; a familiar face stared back at him. He turned back to the girl in front of him. "People have been looking for you miss." She blinked at him, her sallow skin tightening into a grimace. And with that Brooke promptly passed out on the station floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok to clear something up this takes place before the four year jump. The characters are still in high school. What happened to Brooke will be revealed in bits and pieces through flashback throughout the story. Also I'm going to keep these chapters pretty short, just so that I can update pretty regularly.**

Brooke blinked a few times and opened her eyes to the bright white around her. Faces leaned over her. "Hey B. Davis," her blonde curly headed best friend smiled at her but behind the smile was pain. The smile was only a charade so as not to upset Brooke.

"Thank god you're awake," Haley chirped from Brooke's left. "I don't know if I could deal with being the perky one much longer."

"She's only been out for a few hours," Nathan grumbled.

"But still being peppy is hard work." Haley flopped down in a chair at the foot of the bed, Nathan standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders. Brooke looked around and noted that the only one who hadn't spoken was a broody blonde standing mere inches from her bed. She caught his eye and he opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it immediately.

"So you guys been here long?" Brooke struggled to sit up, but flinched as she put weight on her arms. She glanced down; two long lines of stitches wound their way among her veins along her left arm. She clutched her left arm with her right one, only to note that it too carried scars.

"Not too long, originally the nurses said only family could visit, but then she met your ice queen of a mother and I guess she figured that we were better family than Victoria could ever be. And much better for the healing process," Haley spoke quickly. At that exact moment a woman in scrubs appeared at the doorway.

"Ok I know I said that you kids could visit her, but that's where I stop bending the rules. Only one visitor at a time. Out!" Brooke willed Lucas to be the one to stay, but clearly Peyton had other plans. She settled herself into a chair next to Brooke's bed as the other three gathered themselves to leave. Lucas again looked as if he wanted to say something, but he settled for taking Brooke's hand and giving it a slight squeeze before following Haley and Nathan out the door. The room fell silent as the nurse bustled about then with a sniff she was gone and the silence became deafening. Brooke looked to Peyton, but the blonde didn't say anything, merely looked at her like a frightened deer.

"What's with the big sad puppy dog eyes P. Sawyer?" Brooke finally shattered the stillness. "You're acting like someone died." Those words broke Peyton. She blinked at her friend in stunned silence before she opened her mouth.

"Brooke you almost did," she whimpered. The tears fell from her eyes.

"Oh Peyton, come here." Quickly, Peyton moved from the chair to the bed, laying her head on Brooke's shoulder. Brooke wrapped her arms around her best friend and kissed the top of her head. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise. And these things," she spoke of her wounds, "they look a lot worse than they actually are." Brooke's shoulder dampened as Peyton sobbed into it.

"Brooke what happened?" Peyton croaked between sobs, lifting her head so that she could face the brunette. Brooke wiped a tear from her friend's cheek as she thought. Then she sank back into the uncomfortable stiffness of her hospital bed, letting out a long breath.

_The wind caught Brooke's hair and whipped it around her. Angry thoughts raced through her head. She turned down a new street. Her feet were ire driven further and further away from where she had left him. Again the wind roared through the fall air bringing with it a chill that pulled Brooke from her thoughts. She blinked through darkness surrounding her. The only illumination came from the full moon overhead. Brooke's heels tapped a little more rapidly on the pavement as she picked up the pace. She shouldn't have taken this road late at night, but he left her with no choice. She had to put as much space between them as she could. Something rustled in the bushes beside her. She closed her eyes, it's just the wind, she promised herself. But just to be safe she sped up a little more. The rustling continued, following her along the edge of the sidewalk. She turned to the bushes. "Be brave, be brave," she chanted to herself. With a sigh she moved towards the bush squatting down, nervously reaching to push a branch aside. She stared into the depths. An object shot out at her. As she fell back on the pavement, shocked, the black cat ran across the road. "Great just what I need bad luck," she murmured aloud. She stood up, brushing herself off. She felt something grab her shoulder and she spun around, gasping. _

_"What's a pretty girl like you doing out alone so late at night?" the man grinned at her showing his yellowing teeth. His grimy hand reached out to brush her cheek and she shrunk back from it. She tried to keep walking, to ignore him, but he stood in her path. She sidestepped to the left, but again he blocked her. "I asked you a question!" He grabbed her upper arms so hard that Brooke could feel the bruises forming. _

_"I…I…" she stammered, unsure if screaming would help._

_"Hey back off," a voice called. A deep, reassuring kind of voice. Brooke turned towards the sound as the man tightened his grip._

_"This is none of your business," he snarled to the new voice._

_"Not exactly, but I'm sure the police would consider it their business." The men locked gazes for a moment, before the grimy man released her and began to walk down the sidewalk, mumbling to himself._

_"Thank you so much," Brooke spoke to her rescuer. _

_"No problem, I'm always happy to help a damsel in distress. I'm Jack by the way." The man extended a hand. Brooke hesitated, a teenage girl alone in the dark meeting a stranger was the beginning of every horror movie. But this man had just saved her and the way his dark hair fell casually and attractively across his eyes drove Brooke to place her hand in his._

_"Brooke." They shook. "Thanks again." She turned to go, but he spoke again._

_"Actually, if you don't mind, I'm a little bit lost. Do you think you could direct me towards the middle of town?" _

_"Umm sure you just go straight up this road and then take a left and then a right where that dead ends and you'll end up near Karen's Café." _

_"Great thanks." He took a few steps down the road. Brooke hesitated a little bit, that was the way she was going. Though this man had rescued her she wasn't sure that she was up for fulfilling every horror movie cliché. She shrugged her fears aside, this man seemed harmless enough and besides they would only be walking together for a few feet and then he would go his way and she would go hers. _

_"Actually I'm going this way too."_

_"Great we'll walk together." He smiled at her and her stomach lurched a little bit. A bell pinged in her head; there was something off about his smile. Brooke shook it away, she was just being silly. The two fell into stride. "So you go to Tree Hill High?" he asked. _

_"Excuse me?" Brooke snapped. How did he know that?_

_"Well you look like high school age and since you're headed this way I assumed…" Of course, it was a natural assumption. An innocent assumption. He was merely trying to strike up a conversation._

_"Oh yeah, and you?" He looked too old for high school. "Do you go to college around here?"_

_"No I graduated last year." He smiled at her again and this time the ping of the bell seemed a bit more urgent. Luckily, they had come to the point where their paths diverged. _

_"Well thanks again for saving me." She gave a weak smile._

_"No problem." He smiled again and the bell turned into a siren in her head, wailing at her to walk away. She turned to go. "Oh and Brooke..." The siren screamed at her not to turn but she did. "It was nice meeting you." The syringe glinted a bit in the moonlight before it sunk into her skin. She felt a liquid enter her blood seeking refuge in her veins. The siren wailed one more time and she finally realized what was wrong with his smile. It wasn't a smile at all but a menacing leer. And then as if a switch had been flicked, Brooke passed out in the man's arms. _

**Hope you enjoyed, please review. **


	3. Chapter 3

Brooke blinked up at her house. For years the house had been threatening to her. It was full of nothing but arguing parents, when the parents were there at all, and the only comfort Brooke ever felt from this home was a credit card thrown her way when things went wrong. And yet now as she looked up at the house with the red door she saw it as a sanctuary. As a place where she could hide. Her father joined her on the front walkway. "You coming in?" he grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah." The two fell into silence as they entered their house. They stood in the expertly decorated foyer. "Well I guess I'll go up to my room then."

"What? Yeah sure." He hesitated a moment and then clapped her awkwardly on the shoulder. Brooke watched his retreating back and then made her way slowly to her room. A bit of blue caught her eye. Brooke stared at her pom poms placed in where she would never have put them before the tears began to fall. Brooke crawled underneath her covers, pulling them up to her chin. Hiding out seemed to be a good idea. The world couldn't get to her when she was secure under the blankets. A gentle knock on the door announced her mother's entrance.

"Dinner's ready whenever you are."

"I'm not really hungry Victoria." Victoria took a step towards Brooke and then thought better of it.

"I'll put some of it in the fridge for when you're ready."

"Whatever." Sensing that Brooke wanted to be alone, Victoria backed out of the room. Brooke sighed. It wasn't her parents' faults they were really trying. But parenting skills faded after years of disuse. And it wasn't like even the best parents in the world would know what to do in a situation like she was in. Even she didn't know what to do except to hide out in her bed. So that was what she planned to do.

Brooke's phone rang. At first she couldn't open her eyes, opening her eyes would mean that she had to leave the safe world of her bed. The shrill ring of her phone called to her again. Accepting defeat, Brooke picked up the phone. "Hello," she said in the raspy voice that comes after long periods of sleep.

"Hello this is Detective Moran from the station, is this Brooke Davis." 'Detective' that word pulled her further from safety.

"Yes, yes it is."

"Well I was just calling to tell you that we went to the house you spoke of." She was being shoved in the direction of reality. "And we found the body." 'Body' another ominous word yanking her where she didn't want to go. And since she had already been taken to the edge of the cliff she decided to go ahead and jump over.

"What morgue?"

"Excuse me?" the detective faltered.

"I assume that there will be an autopsy which means that he'll have to go to a morgue," the words tumbled out of her mouth. "So what I was asking is what morgue is he at?"

"Miss I don't know if that's appropriate..."

"_Sir,_" she mocked his tone "do you have kids?"

"Yes."

"A girl?"

"Two."

"And if when they are teenagers they get kidnapped and abused and they are merely looking for a last chance to face the person who did it to them, would you want a man to be standing in their way, telling them what's appropriate or not?" There was silence on the other end. "I didn't think so. Now could you give me directions to the morgue? Please." She scrambled for a pen and paper as the detective began to explain the path that she should take to get to her closure.

Brooke followed the man in scrubs into the morgue. This was it her last chance to face the man who had taken her. The coroner's assistant stopped beside a table. Brooke stared down at the sheet, the only thing keeping her from looking into that face again. "Are you su…" the man started to ask, but Brooke cut him off.

"I'm positive." This was the twelfth time since she'd arrived at the morgue and explained her situation that he had asked her that. "Please," she began to beg. With a sigh the man pulled back the sheet. Brooke took in his whole face. The unnatural look of his skin, the way his mouth remained in a thin line. Brooke thanked the universe that the man's eyes were closed and that she didn't have to look into those green pools of evil again.


	4. Chapter 4

Italics are flashbacks to what happened to Brooke, in case you hadn't figured that out by now.

_Her shoulder hurt as if she had been lying on her side too long. The cold floor pressed into her side. She rolled over, blinking against the pain in her head. "So you're awake," a voice spoke from somewhere to Brooke's left. She sat up to face the man. He sat in a chair in the corner of the empty room, leaning back on two legs of the chair._

_"You b…" Brooke made a lunge for him, but was held back by the chains around her ankles. "You shackled me?!" Brooke asked in disbelief._

_"I figured that you'd be a little feisty. And I've got to say I'm glad I was right." He set his chair down and got up. Brooke reached down to her pocket, scrambling for her cell phone. "You really think I'd be that dumb? I had plenty of time to search you while you were sleeping. You know that drug lasted a little longer than I had expected. I'll have to take that into account next time," he mused to himself. Brooke struggled against the shackles on her ankles._

_"Next time? If you survive this time."_

_"Oh baby don't be like that, all jealous." He stood next to her. "She won't be as pretty as you." He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. She spat in his face. "You know I was going to leave your top half free, but you're going to need to be punished for that." He turned and seized some rope. She struggled, trying to shake him off as he grabbed her wrists, pulling them behind her back. The rope dug into her wrists as he pulled it tightly into a knot. He gave it another tug to ensure that she could not slip out of it. Then he turned to go, but stopped. "You know I don't think that that will teach you your lesson." A sharp pain shot across Brooke's face as he struck her. "Now I'll be back for you later." He kissed the top of her head and then walked out the room. Brooke heard the click of one lock and then a second one._

_Immediately, Brooke turned to the wall where the shackle was placed. She tugged on the chain trying to pull it out of the wall. She pulled her foot, trying to get it out of the shackle. Nothing budged. Brooke stopped trying and looked around the room. A glint caught her eye, a rock sat in the corner. Lying on her stomach, Brooke wiggled towards it. Brooke's chain creaked as she reached the end of it and yet her fingers were still inches from the rock. With insight, Brooke pulled her belt off, throwing one end of it towards the rock. After a couple of attempts, the rock was hooked. Brooke pulled it towards her. She was getting out of here and she was going to call the cops on this guy. She lifted the rock and began to hack away at her shackle. When that didn't work she hurled the rock at the attachment on the wall. Again and again she hurled it until she began to breathe heavily and she threw the rock aside, exhausted and frustrated. Realizing that she couldn't get out of this on her own, she began screaming._

_After a few minutes of screaming Jack came back, throwing the door open. "Shut up! No one can hear you." Brooke continued to scream. Jack stormed towards her, a gag in his hand. He shoved it in her mouth, whispering in her ear. "This is just for now. When I kill you I'll want to hear you scream as I see the life leave your eyes." His eyes saw the rock. He grinned. "That a girl, you fight." He began to walk out. "Oh I almost forgot." He backhanded her. "Oh and here, got to keep your strength up." Jack threw a scrap of bread to her over his shoulder as he left the room. Brooke touched her stinging cheek before reaching towards the bread. Keep her strength up? With this measly crumb? And yet Brooke ate it eagerly. She crawled across the floor to the wall and leaned her head against it. Tears fell from her eyes. The drug had still not worn off completely and she was tired. She closed her eyes and tried to forget where she was._


	5. Chapter 5

Laughter echoed around Brooke. She looked at the myriad of high school students without a care in the world. She wished she could be like them, wished that she could go back to the days when all she cared about was where the latest party was and where she could score some alcohol. A cup was handed to her. Brooke looked up at the face. "Don't worry it's just soda," Nathan assured her. "Personally I thought you could use a good drink, but Peyton told me that she'd kick my ass if I so much as offered you one." The couch sank as Nathan plopped down beside her.

"Yeah she's been a little protective. I swear she's two steps away from holding my hand through the day." Nathan chuckled.

"You're lucky, Haley's wanted to do the same but I've held her off."

"I'm truly appreciative." Brooke took a sip of her drink as she looked back across the room at the mingling students.

"But it's because they care."

"At least **they** do," Brooke mumbled into her drink.

"What?" Brooke turned.

"I said at least they do it because they want to help. And clearly you want to help as well because you're here, so at least now I know who my real friends are." Her head turned as if of its own accord towards a corner of the room. Nathan followed her gaze.

"Lucas?" The two watched as the blonde somberly spoke with Mouth. "You think that Lucas doesn't care?"

"He's been avoiding me ever since it happened." Though she wasn't looking at him Brooke heard Nathan's sigh of frustration.

"And you really have no idea why that is? You're a lot denser than I thought you were." Something in Brooke snapped.

"Well if I'm so dense, then why bother? Why don't you just leave me the hell alone?" And she strode off leaving a confused Nathan behind. Brooke found the clearly spiked drinks in the kitchen. Her hand reached for a cup and she brought it to her lips but she didn't drink it. Alcohol had been her friend before because it deadened her. When her parents ignored her or Lucas and Peyton snuck around behind her back alcohol stopped her from feeling, it had been her only true friend. But she didn't need alcohol anymore, she had been deadened the moment the syringe was placed in her skin. She threw the full cup onto the ground, splashing it onto some of the other students who shot her angry looks but once they realized who it was their expressions softened into looks of pity. The pitying became suffocating and Brooke raced out of the house to breathe. It was going to be a long week at school.

Even before she spoke, Brooke could feel Peyton standing behind her. Brooke continued to pull books out of her locker, slowly so as not to pull any stitches. "I couldn't find you at the party last night."

"Yeah well maybe you shouldn't put Nathan on babysitting duty anymore." Peyton winced, but she pushed past the embarrassment.

"So where did you disappear to last night?" she questioned Brooke.

"I had things to do."

"Things? Like what kinds of things?" Peyton's curiosity, though it was clearly only out of concern, wore on Brooke.

"School things, homework, tests to study for you know."

"Cutting out of a party to do school things? That's not the Brooke I know." Brooke slammed her locker and whirled around to face her friend.

"Well get used to it because the Brooke you know is gone."

"Look you're still spooked, it's understandable but things will get back to normal I promise." Brooke rolled her eyes.

"Things can't go back Peyton," she whispered.

"They can Brooke, I'll help you Haley and Nathan and Lucas will…"

"They can't go back Peyton!" Passing students stopped and turned towards the outburst. "They can't go back to normal Peyton because I killed a man." Pulling her bag further up on her shoulder, Brooke made her exit. Whispers surrounded Peyton as she stood where her friend had left her, stunned into stillness.

Brooke pushed herself into the bathroom. She checked for feet in each of the stalls and, once she had reassured herself that she was alone, she turned to the sink. Breathing deeply, she splashed her face with cold water. The water ran down her arms and she felt it on her stitches. As if noticing them for the first time, Brooke began to exam the stitching. She traced over each one with her nail. The stitches tingled as she touched them individually, each individual a reminder of what had been done to her. Her breath quickened as she dug her nails into the stitches. Her heart raced as she clawed at them one by one pulling them out, until the blood rushed from her wounds. When all the stitches had been removed Brooke collapsed to the floor into a position that she had grown familiar with during her days in captivity. She closed her eyes and let her mind clear focusing only on the feeling of the blood coursing to her wrists.


	6. Chapter 6

_The sound of the door opening woke Brooke up. She wanted to face him, but she barely had the strength to roll over. "What no callous greeting for me. I've got to say I miss it," the man sneered. Groaning, Brooke pushed herself up to a seated position, noting the marks around her wrists where the rope had once been. "I guess four days with very little food can do that to you." He chuckled as Brooke took in this piece of information. Four days she'd been here, though it felt like much longer. Four days of only seeing the stone walls around her. The only human contact being the taunting and beating routinely given to her by this man. Her left eye had swelled so large that she could barely open it to see that her whole body was now covered with bruises and scrapes. Her lips cracked as she opened her mouth to speak, but her mouth was so dry that no words came out. "Don't worry though, it'll all be over soon." The man walked to her and stroked her hair. "Today's your big day Brooke." He unshackled first one ankle and then the other. Brooke tried to stand, but she was too weak. Her attempts made Jack laugh. "I thought so." He walked towards the door and stooped to pick something up. "All those kids that plead on the tv that I release you so that they get to see you one more time…" Brooke groaned she hadn't thought about her friends but she was glad that they were looking for her. She was going to miss them. "…by the time I get done with you they're going to pray they never see you." He was going to mutilate her. When she was younger Brooke had always hoped that she would die young. In a world where beauty was everything and what was on the outside mattered more than what was on the inside, Brooke considered leaving a beautiful young corpse an accomplishment. Not to mention there was no better way to give her parents a good 'f you'. Yet now she wanted to take it all back. She closed her eyes and prayed that she wouldn't die young, that she would get to grow old. That she would get to see her friends and even her parents again. But she felt cold metal slice her skin, right down her wrist following her vein. "Open your eyes Brooke, I want to see the life leave them." She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, refusing to give him the satisfaction. She was going to die and the least she could do was piss him off as she did. The metal sliced through her other wrist. In her head, Brooke began to apologize to everyone for everything she ever did. And then a face came to her mind. Brooke opened her eyes but the face remained, hovering before her. She reached a shaky hand towards it. "That's it Brooke," the man called Jack told her as the voice spoke the same words. Only the voice wasn't talking about her opening her eyes. The voice saw her movement as a sign that she hadn't give up. It pleased Brooke that the face was pleased with her. Brooke's hand dropped and the face flickered. _

"_No!" Brooke found her voice. _

"_Yeah plead Brooke, plead," Jack snarled, holding the knife to her neck. Brooke flailed, grasping for the face and in the process knocked Jack across the face, startling him. The face appeared again as Brooke made the connection. "Oh so you've got a little fight left in you? I like that." The face remained only as long as Brooke fought. She heard Jack approaching her from behind. The face nodded to her and Brooke knew what she had to do. Brooke ducked as the knife nicked her shoulder. Her head began to spin, again she wobbled. And then she lay down on the ground, closing her eyes. "Oh Brooke, not as strong as I thought you were." Brooke's breathing slowed as footsteps approached her. She smelled the scent of forest and dirt as Jack bent down next to her. She felt him test for a pulse. It was her moment. Mustering all the strength she could, Brooke head butted him. He groaned as he reeled in pain. "You bitch!" He rushed towards her with the knife, but Brooke's adrenaline was pumping giving her strength she didn't know she had. The knife came towards her neck but she grabbed it and pushed it aside. She stumbled to the other side of the room towards the door but the man was quicker. Jack grabbed her around the neck and pushed her against a wall. The hand on her neck tightened as he pulled her off of her feet. Stars appeared in her vision as Brooke tried one last thing, the typical self defense move. She kicked him as hard as she could below the belt. Jack buckled over in pain dropping the knife in shock. Gasping for air, Brooke retrieved the knife and sank it into his neck, dragging it downwards so as to maximize blood loss. Jack fell backwards as Brooke pulled the knife from his neck. His hand twitched a bit as Brooke knelt next to him. Blood rushed from the slits on her wrists as she grasped the knife tightly with both hands, plunging it again and again into the man's chest. She screamed as the warm liquid from her wrists mixed with the liquid now flowing from the man lying on the ground. As she stabbed him again spray hit her face, bringing her back to reality. The knife clattered to the floor as her grip slackened and she began to sob. Her legs shaking like a newborn lamb's, Brooke got to her feet. She staggered up the stairs out of her prison. Sunlight hit her face as she exited the house and, clutching her bleeding arms to her chest, she stumbled into the woods heading in a direction that she hoped would lead her home._


	7. Chapter 7

Brooke stumbled out of the bathroom, looking down the hallway to make sure that no one was hanging around. She walked into the empty hallway and began to make her escape. Barely feet from the door a body collided with hers. "I'm sorry," a familiar voice spoke as hands steadied her. Then he felt the blood. "Brooke, what…" Brooke looked up into Lucas's eyes.

"I was just going home," she muttered. She tried to push past him but he stopped her and set her down on the ground. With a rip he had torn his jacket in two and tied each piece around one of her wrists in an attempt to stifle the flow.

"Ok now let's get you home," he spoke. And just like that Brooke remembered why she had fallen in love with this boy. He made sure she was all right and then didn't press any further. He knew just how much to push her and when to stop. They were in his car without having spoken a word. The silence killed Brooke. Was this really the same boy that had once whispered about how much he loved her? Had she really changed so much that he couldn't feel the same way about her? And suddenly Brooke needed answers, her mouth was open before she had a chance to think.

"What happened to us?"

"What?" The engine roared to life.

"To us, what happened? We were so good and then I get kidnapped and I comeback and you treat me as if there was never anything between us and I want to know why." Brooke hadn't realized she was crying until she was done. The engine produced the only sound in the car as Lucas did not speak. Finally he opened his mouth.

"It was my fault," Lucas croaked, killing the engine. "You getting taken was my fault. I should have been with you."

_Brooke skipped a couple of steps ahead of Lucas. "You're lagging behind boyfriend, the game got you all worn out?" she teased. She turned her head and saw that Lucas did not look amused. "Ok what's the deal?"_

_"I saw you Brooke."_

_"Saw me? Saw me doing what?" She placed her hands on his chest and leaned into him. _

_"I saw you flirting with that other player. I'm not stupid."_

_"Lucas I wasn't flirting, he asked me a question and I replied."_

_"Yeah sure that's what it was." Brooke took a few steps back._

_"What do you want me to say Lucas, that I'm just a big slut and I flirt with anything with a penis, I just can't help myself."_

_"At least then you'd be telling the truth." Brooke's jaw dropped._

_"You are unbelievable." She grabbed her bag off of Lucas's shoulder and started to storm away._

_"Brooke wait, I didn't mean that. Brooke wait."_

_"Go to hell Lucas." Lucas watched Brooke's retreating back until the darkness had swallowed her up. He knew that he should go after her and yet he couldn't bring his feet to move. He'd give her the chance to cool off, call her in the morning. They would be fine, everything would be fine when he saw her tomorrow. Lucas hitched his bag up on his shoulder and began to walk in the opposite direction, placing headphones in his ears. The headphones prevented him from hearing if anyone called for help. _

Brooke gently touched his shoulder. "Lucas it wasn't your fault. I was the one that walked away."

"It's not enough." He banged his palm on the steering wheel. "If I had gone after you or apologized you wou…" Brooke stopped him.

"Lucas do you want to know what kept me going? The man had a knife to me and I had all but given up when I saw a face. Your face. And that kept me going. You're the only thing that kept me fighting." She touched his face. "You saved me Lucas Scott." The two pressed their foreheads together.

"I'll never let anything hurt you again," Lucas whispered. He kissed her slowly then gently trailed kisses down her arms, across the wrapped wounds. She watched him with tears in her eyes. She wished she could believe his pretty words, but the truth was that they were empty promises. The world was a cruel and dark place, pain and tears lurked around every corner. There was nothing he could do about it; no way for him to shelter her from it all. In fact he was part of the pain, though the wounds he left her with could not be seen. She smiled a tight smile as she looked down at the boy who had broken her heart countless times and would probably do it again. He blinked up at her and their lips locked. As the taste of salt from her tears mingled with the taste of his breath, Brooke realized that it didn't matter. She was a survivor; she could handle whatever life threw at her as she had proven again and again. The only thing she could do was wait for whatever came next and who said that while she was waiting she couldn't have a little fun. She drug her fingers through Lucas's hair, pulling him closer to her and deepening the kiss. His tongue met hers and he slipped his hand up her shirt. Yeah, waiting could be fun.


End file.
